Hi, currently I have a normal PC... think it is called a workstation... normal tower unit etc. I am toying with letting my kids have this outdated machine and getting a new one, people keep telling me to go for a laptop.

What are the obvious advantages of a laptop... are there any?
What happens with this big bulky printer?
Will I get as good spec from a laptop?
Nearly all the laptops I look at on have a 56k modem.... can you go broadband on a laptop?
When you are out and about.... can you access the WWW?
Are they easy to use??

And most importantly... can anyone recomend a good one?

Thanks

What are the obvious advantages of a laptop... are there any?
Yes there portable, and many have built in wireless capabilities.
What happens with this big bulky printer?
Nothing you can still use it with a laptop, just plug it in after you install the printer drivers.
Will I get as good spec from a laptop?
Yes todays laptops are real close in specs to desktops and the desktop replacement models in some cases are even better than desktops.
Nearly all the laptops I look at on have a 56k modem.... can you go broadband on a laptop?
Yes most new laptops come with built in network interface cards and the better ones even have wireless lan support.
When you are out and about.... can you access the WWW?
Yes that's possible, there are many Internet cafes around the world in most of the major cities.
Are they easy to use??
Well that depends, if you take the time to read the manual and understand what the function key and various other keys do I don't think you will have any problems. And aslo I like to use a regular mouse with my laptop because IMHO the keypad mouse is a PITA

And most importantly... can anyone recomend a good one?

I would reccomend either Dell or Toshiba, just my 2 ¢
I'm sure other members will have some suggestions for you. HTH

Originally Posted by Fireman sam

What are the obvious advantages of a laptop... are there any?

Well the most obvious is portability
- with the right setup, you can surf the Internet whilst sitting in your back garden on a sunny day
- you can get that important bit of work done whilst watching your favourite TV programme in the lounge
- when the wife wants to visit her parents, you can take it with you and play games "to keep the kids amused" instead of having to listen to the mother-in-law, lol

Originally Posted by Fireman sam

What happens with this big bulky printer?

Give it to the kids and buy yourself a nice new one. ANY new printer (even a £55 entry-level HP) is likely to be better than your current one if it's a few years old. Also, you can get "portable" printers which are very small and designed to be taken out with you with your laptop.

Originally Posted by Fireman sam

Will I get as good spec from a laptop?

You get what you pay for but there's not much difference in peformance between laptops and desktop PCs these days. However, beware of laptops coming "bundled with free software" that clutters up the machine and makes it grind to a halt as soon as you take it out of the box. Sony Vaio laptops are an absolute killer for this - they load on so much rubbish at the factory that they run far too slow even before you've had a chance to use them.

Originally Posted by Fireman sam

Nearly all the laptops I look at on have a 56k modem.... can you go broadband on a laptop?

Oh yes - it's just as easy to go broadband on a laptop as it is on a desktop PC. Many broadband packages come with a USB broadband modem that will plug into the back of the laptop in exactly the same way as on a desktop PC. Alternatively, as Bear said, you can have an ADSL router box and connect a lead from that to the network card in the laptop if it has one. Or, for the ultimate broadband, get a wireless ADSL router and connect it to your laptop without any cables, using the laptop's wireless network card if it has one - that's how you can surf the 'net in the back garden - cool!

Originally Posted by Fireman sam

When you are out and about.... can you access the WWW?

Again, as Bear said, Internet cafes are sprouting up all over the place. If they've got wireless capabilities, you can use those for a small fee. You might also have heard of "wireless hotspots" - this is where airports, hotels, etc will let you sit in a lounge that is hooked up with wireless broadband and get onto the Internet with your laptop's wireless network connection. Finally, for the ultimate in portability, get a 3G card - this lets you use a mobile phone company's signal (just like the signal used for the phones) to jump onto the Internet SuperHighway whenever you have signal. I've just bought one of these for my Sales Director's laptop - £150 + £20 monthly line rental from Orange for a decent package.

Originally Posted by Fireman sam

Are they easy to use??

It'll take a bit of getting used to but it'll quickly become just as easy as using a desktop PC but more convenient. Bear in mind that smaller laptops with 12" screens are nice and pretty and lightweight but they won't fit so much on the screen so you'll have to scroll around more (although very cheap 14" screens might be just as bad - it pays to spend a bit of money on a good display). Also consider the fact that small laptops are likely to have smaller keyboards which are less comfortable to use. As Bear rightly pointed out, the built-in touchpad on laptops still aren't a 100% satisfactory replacement for the conventional mouse but most of them are certainly good enough for when you're away from your desk.

Originally Posted by Fireman sam

And most importantly... can anyone recomend a good one?

Dell has been top of my list for many years - visit their web site at www.dell.co.uk for regular online special offers. For compact portability, look at the 12" Latitude C400. For the ultimate performance (but not very portable), Inspiron models are packed with features. For a nice balance of performance, features and value, I always buy the Latitude C640 / D600. Although the reasons may not seem immediately obvious, the general rule is the smaller the laptop, the more expensive it is - I've just bought a couple of Sony X505s - the lightest, thinnest laptops in the world ... absolutely amazing tiny bit of kit but they retail at £2000 each and they're still not very useful!



Hope that helps

Hi, lots of great advice there... thank you. Unfortunatly I am still not convinced... but hey it took 3 years of pursation to get me to get this computor!!

This old Tiny is really peeing me off... my very first post re dodgy ram on this site still has not been sorted, the thing is crashing every day and is just soooo unreliable.

I am toying with the idea of just getting this one sorted and taking it back down to 128Ram (after just reading someone elses post re upgrading Win98 to 550 odd ram and it not being compatible), or its a case of shedding out loads on something new.

Always liked Dell... they do some good deals, I must have on site support also to start with as I will need it!! I even thought about getting a Dell basic level PC, it has got to be better than this machine!

Thanks again.... absolutley fantastic site!!

My Ebay sales page... http://stores.ebay.co.uk/FirePoliceA...3aFQ3aSTQQtZkm

I thoroughly recommend Dell stuff - I've been standardising my company on it for the last couple of years and we're now about half-way to having only Dell hardware in the building. We've got 4 Dell servers, approx 10 GX260 desktops, a few GX270 desktops, a C400 laptop (I'm not over the moon about that one but we bought it specifically because it was small), four C640 laptops and we recently bought a few of their replacements - the D600. Oh, and a couple of top-end Inspirons.

They give good discounts for businesses placing big orders and, even for the single home user, their web site regularly has some impressive deals. Don't buy one of their printers just yet though - the ink cartridges are very expensive.

Ooops, just seen my last post - I think I've already said quite a lot of that!

If your PC is more than a couple of years old, ANY new Dell will be a great improvement. My tip: Don't pay over the odds for a slightly faster processor but DO invest in more than 128Mb - it's simply not enough for a good Win2000 / XP machine.

Regarding your comments about lots of memory on Win98, was it my post you just read? In my experience, Win98 won't run any better with more than 128Mb RAM unless you're doing graphics work or gaming. Some have said that it runs worse. Windows 2000 and XP have a completely different architecture and need at least 128Mb to run properly, 256Mb being a sensible minimum and 512Mb or more giving best performance for intensive applications or significant multi-tasking.

Will take a look for your old post and see if I have any suggestions